Life as seen through the eyes of a frum Reform Jewish rabbi changing the world one Jew at a time

The Gift of Life

Imagine if you had the ability to save a life. Can there be a greater feeling of satisfaction than knowing that because of you, someone will live to see a lifetime of sunrises?

Imagine, now, being in a situation where your very life depends on the gift of a stranger. What is it like to live each day, not knowing if that gift will ever be forthcoming?

Joe Antanoff is waiting. Diagnosed this past November with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, this father-of-two needs a bone marrow transplant. Though family members have the best odds, neither of Joe’s siblings is a match. Now it is time to widen the familial circle to include all Ashkenazic Jews. Statistics suggest that Joe’s chances of finding a match are higher within our ethnic group.

Registration with the National Bone Marrow Registry is simple. All it requires is a simple blood test OR cheek swab. During the rest of this month, the $60.00 registration fee is waved if you enter “Joseph” as the promo code.

Please consider registering. It might be the first step to gifting life.

As we are taught in Sanhedrin 37a, to save a life it is as though one has saved a world.

Done. Actually, done in the 90’s for Jay Feinberg. I hope they still have a record. I wonder if there’s a way to find out.

Two little corrections on the post: great should be greater and in the next to last paragraph, you say that you can do a simply blood test or a blood test. Something tells me that you mean something else.

Especially in this time of loss, I love the idea of giving life (which one can also do by giving blood).

Thank you so much for posting about our good friend Joe!
I’ve haven’t checked in with your wonderful blog for a few weeks, and was delighted to find the post about Joe’s search.
Much gratitude from all of Joe’s friends and family.
Colleen and Brian Crystal

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